SAP, ICC partnership provides new cricket experience

SAP Africa CEO, Pfungwa Serima

by SAVIOUS KWINIKAAfrica Editor
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – CRICKET audiences have been brought closer to the action and receive more insightful and informed stories during the ongoing Cricket World Cup thanks to a partnership between the International Cricket Council (ICC) and SAP, a worldwide leader in enterprise application software services.

As ICC’s exclusive Analytics and Cloud Partner for the World Cup, SAP is utilizing its flagship in-memory HANA platform to power numerous live match experiences across the ICC’s network of websites.

The result is significant enhancement of the experience for fans and media with real-time data, statistics and performance analysis.

This data is now publicly available, offering fans a multitude of ways to analyse previous team and player performances.

ICC Chief Executive, David Richardson, hailed the partnership with the German-headquartered firm.

“SAP is changing the way sports fans interact with data and information. In a sport such as cricket where there is a healthy appetite for information and statistics, especially across digital platforms, the ICC is delighted that SAP’s powerful technology will bring the fans closer to the game,” said Richardson.

“For Africa cricket is huge. It is the second most viewed sport in the world and the most watched sport on the sub-continent. SAP is excited to be in a position to enhance the real-time analytics and stats to cricket fans during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

“SAP’s technology provides the ICC with the ability to bring fans closer to the action on the field and keep them informed in real-time about their favourite matches.

“This partnership is another example of how all organizations, including sports leagues, teams, players and events, can run more efficiently and simply in their pursuit of success,” said the SAP executive,” Serima said.

During the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, all the data, statistics and performance analysis on the official ICC Match Center website along with all other online, apps and social platforms will be delivered using SAP’s technology.

In addition, the ICC Match Center, utilising ball-by-ball match data with full Hawk-Eye camera integration, will provide unique real time insights to fans.

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 is ongoing in Australia and New Zealand, with a total of 49 matches being played across 14 venues.

Cricket World Cup 2015 tournament, which kicked off on Saturday, is the third largest global sporting event after the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games